The sound of wings echoed through the forest as the Draco landed on a large open area.

Standing on its four limbs, its body was truly a terrifying sight to behold. Its muscles flexed in a way that could bend metal. Its wings had such a large span that they could cast wide shadows. Its horns were symbols of fear and death.

It lightly growled to greet its challenger.

Across the Draco, there was a large bipedal animal. It roared at the Draco and thumped its chest with its powerful arms.

It was a berserker ape or something that evolved similarly to it. Its giant body was the result of its evolved muscles. Compared to the one that evolved in front of Evelyn, this berserker ape had enough time to get used to its new abilities.

It was dangerous and even Michael would be hard-pressed to defeat one.

Now, this creature was challenging the current alpha of the forest, the Draco.

The Draco gave the berserker ape a toothy smile, mocking it. Then it growled.

The berserker ape replies by roaring back. Raising its arm, the berserker ape waves its weapon, a large crude club that was basically a tree trunk. The Draco sees this and is reminded of one of its greatest enemies. It growls at this.

If Michael heard this growl, he would think that the Draco was chuckling. The berserker ape takes offense to this.

Then it charges.

The ape’s four limbs generated powerful shock waves as it started its rampage.

The Draco snorts with disgust then it roars and charges forward.

As the two powerful creatures close the gap between them, the berserker ape swings its crude club.

The Draco tries to rear back its head to dodge the incoming blow but the ape’s extended range allows the club to strike the Draco.

~ROAR!~

The berserker ape roars in triumph as the Draco’s head is struck by the club. The Draco momentarily staggers. It shakes its head but the berserker ape takes advantage of the Draco’s confusion and charges forward to continue its assault. Raising its club, it slams down on the Draco’s front knee, forcing its body’s front to fall on one leg.

The berserker ape then punches the Draco’s head with its empty hand. It quickly swings the club again, striking the Draco’s chest which causes the apex predator to release air. The berserker ape continues its assault and the Draco is slowly pushed back.

With each successful strike, the berserker ape’s rage and power grow stronger. Each strike was stronger than before. Each strike gave the berserker a feeling of power.

~ROAR!!!!~

The berserker ape felt exhilarated as it raised the club with both its hands. It was preparing to deliver the final blow.

Putting all of its strength behind it, the berserker ape brings down the club toward the Draco’s head.

As the giant trunk started to go down, the berserker ape’s exhilaration was reaching its peak.

Then the sound of wood splintering echoes in the woods.

The berserker feels something immensely tough quickly strike its chest. It backs away in pain unable to release it in the form of a roar. It falls on its knees and vomits blood.

It was hit by something. It wasn’t sure what but the ape knew that it lost its momentum.

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Opening its eyes, the berserker looks for the source of the attack then it sees the Draco’s claw clenched into a fist. The ape didn’t believe that the large Draco was capable of such speed but there was nothing else here that could have done it. It had no choice but to believe that the Draco broke its weapon and struck its chest.

The berserker ape was bewildered at what the Draco did.

It was simple. The Draco copied the berserker’s punch except that it was supported by a far more powerful force.

Looking at the Draco, the berserker sees it unaffected and undamaged by its combination of bone-shattering attacks. It turned its head to the side and saw that the Draco’s punch shattered the wooden club.

The Draco snorts in disappointment. It allowed the ape to deliver its attacks to see if it could provide a challenge. Unfortunately, the berserker ape was as weak as the creatures that the Draco regularly devoured.

Slowly, it approaches the weakened ape. The ape tries to crawl away but the Draco grabs its leg.

It looks at the Draco with fear.

The Draco was smiling. Its teeth were bared out in excitement.

While it was disappointing that the berserker ape didn’t provide much of a challenge, the Draco was excited because it could tear apart another creature that could understand fear.

Many of the animals it killed were not able to understand that they were being slowly ripped apart. They understood the pain but they didn’t know much else.

The berserker ape on the other hand knew that it would become the apex creature if it killed the Draco.

The Draco knew that the berserker ape knew.

Because of that, the Draco would relish this creature’s death.

The Draco roars at the berserker ape’s face.

Afraid to die but defiant, the ape roars back.

The Draco licks its teeth.

Yes, it would enjoy this.

----------------------------------------

Evelyn was alone.

After preparing their gear, Michael left with Bob.

They shared a reassuring hug, which actually violated their temporary rules but they both needed it.

Despite having walked for a while, she still felt Michael’s warmth. It gave her strength as she followed the Draco’s routine.

In the distance, Evelyn started to hear a familiar roar.

The Draco.

She recognizes the Draco. Now that she’s familiar with the dangers of evolution, Evelyn felt an immense fear of the Draco.

Then she hears another roar, one that she feared even more.

It was a berserker ape.

Evelyn felt her heart squeeze.

She knew that she was stronger now. In fact, if she really tried and put all her effort into it, she could probably defeat a berserker ape with ease.

I have my evolved gift.

Evelyn looks at her arms. Willing it to transform, Evelyn’s arms change to a duller color. Her skin seemed harder and tougher. She knew that it could survive a pummeling from the berserker ape. She wasn’t sure if she could survive a bite from the Draco. After checking, she returns to her normal state.

I’ll be fine… Michael trained me to last longer.

Evelyn lightly slaps her face to clear her thoughts.

~Woosh!~

She raises her arm to catch a bone dagger flying toward her. Looking up, she sees an opportunistic bone spider. It leaves when it sees that Evelyn is not to be trifled with. At least, the bone spider helped Evelyn clear her thoughts.

Evelyn sighs.

Okay, let’s do this!

She continues to follow the roars.

As she continued to move, she heard them again. It was a roar of challenge.

On the way towards the Draco, Evelyn prepared some of the traps and left some tools to lighten her burdens. She would come back for them later.

Getting closer, Evelyn sees the clearing.

Eventually, Evelyn sees the giant monstrous ape. It was carrying a tree trunk. With its powerful strength, it started to attack the Draco.

The Draco charged forward and was struck with a powerful blow.

Evelyn sees the berserker ape and her heart sinks.

It was bigger and tougher looking than the one she fought. She feared that the ape would win and she would have to face it.

No! Michael said that the Draco must die… stop rooting for it, you idiot.

Evelyn chastises herself as she watches the fight unfold. Almost too quickly, the berserker ape starts to overwhelm the Draco which both confused and scared Evelyn.

When she fought the newly evolved berserker ape, it wasn’t as strong as this but the gap shouldn’t be that big. And if the berserker ape was indeed stronger than the Draco, then she would have a harder time trying to fight it.

She didn’t understand how strong this berserker ape was.

Then she saw why it was winning.

Despite each strike, the Draco was obviously unharmed.

Only now did Evelyn realize what she was up against.

Fuck… maybe I should have left this task to Michael.

Then the Draco stood up and destroyed the wooden club.

Fuck!

Evelyn watched the Draco brutalize the Berserker ape by striking its stomach with a closed fist, something she did not expect. While Michael was faster than the Draco, Evelyn was still surprised by the speed of the Draco’s punch. If she wasn’t careful, that could cave her skull in.

The berserker falls and Evelyn knows that this was the death of her feared animal.

As the Draco approached, Evelyn contemplated how she’ll kill the Draco.

She watched as the Draco grabbed the ape’s leg.

Seeing how the Draco’s body tensed, Evelyn knew that the ape’s leg was going to be ripped off. Despite the pain, it was in, the ape looked defiant. It tried to reach out to grab a weapon, anything it could use to harm the Draco.

Evelyn knew that the ape’s death would be a painful one but she couldn’t do anything.

Unless…

She calmed herself down. She thought of Michael.

Michael, I’m going to do something stupid. You better be cheering me on!!!

Pulling out her bow, Evelyn notches an arrow in less than a second. She was faster now. With her growth, she could be compared to a national-level archer.

Slowly pulling the bowstring, Evelyn’s eyes hone in on the Draco’s eyes. Stone arrows would bounce off the Draco’s body but would they bounce off its eyes?

Time to test that theory out.

Then she lets loose the arrow.